Common Core in the Schools: A First Look at Reading Assignments - No Child Left Behind (NCLB) may have improved math achievement in the early grades, but did little to budge low reading scores. The authors argue that NCLB inspired educators to abandon such classes as science and history to gain time for teaching reading skills while the complexity of assigned texts declined. They hope that the standards- and accountability reform implicit in the Common Core will change that and reading assignments will become more complex. Readers may find recommended high school reading lists interesting. (Timothy Shanahan and Ann Duffett, Thomas B. Fordham Institute, October 2013)...